University of Louisville point guard Bria Smith often wonders why college women's basketball can't be more like the male version.

There are subtle but significant differences between her sport and the men's game. The women use a smaller ball, a shorter three-point arc and a briefer shot clock. Smith is happy that one of the biggest dissimilarities will be gone this coming season.

Last month the NCAA approved the 10-second rule for women's basketball. No longer will players be allowed to dribble in the backcourt for the entirety of the 30-second shot clock. (The men use a 35-second shot clock.) Now the women, just like the men, must advance the ball into the frontcourt within 10 seconds or be called for a turnover.

"It'll speed the game up," Smith said. "It's good for what we like to do."

The college women's game was the only level of basketball without a backcourt rule, and it had been that way since the first NCAA tournament in 1982. Now the NCAA says adding the 10-second rule will bring the women in line with the rest of basketball and "increase the tempo of the game and create more offensive scoring opportunities."

It's a noteworthy change, but exactly how much it will affect the game is difficult to gauge.

The players and coaches interviewed for this story embraced the 10-second rule but had varying opinions on its potential impact. Louisville coach Jeff Walz downplayed the change but did say the biggest impact will be in late-game situations and strategies. For example: A team trailing in the final minute now has another way to create a turnover.

"We're going to have to do a really good job of going through some of those things with players," said Walz, who guided the Cardinals to NCAA runner-up finishes in 2009 and 2013. "Putting them through situations and knowing what is going to take place. It gives you an opportunity to create more turnovers when a team is trying to hold the ball late in the game."

This is the first summer that women's coaches can work with players in the offseason, so they'll be able to get their teams used to the new rule before fall practice starts.

Smith said one direct result of the rules change is an emphasis on ballhandling in individual summer drills. The Cardinals made their surprising run to the title game by essentially playing three point guards — Shoni Schimmel, Jude Schimmel and Smith — much of the time. But Smith said all five players on the floor must now be able to handle ball pressure.

"It's not just the point guard's job to bring the ball up," she said. "We'll need the post players to bring the ball up. It's a good thing. It has everyone working on their game."

Louisville will need to be proficient at ballhandling when it plays Kentucky, because no one loves creating turnovers more than UK coach Matthew Mitchell. Over the past two seasons the Wildcats have led the nation in turnovers forced, including 23.6 a game last season.

Mitchell, though, said he doesn't know if the 10-second rule will dramatically stack the odds in his team's favor.

"It may speed people up and force them to make more mistakes," he said. "Or it may force people to get better at breaking the press where they will have to be more precise. I'm not sure if it will help press offense or hurt press offense."

Kentucky point guard Jennifer O'Neill said she almost didn't believe it when she heard about the change. She said the Wildcats are especially equipped to handle the change because they like to push the pace and "aren't in the backcourt that long anyway."

"I think we're definitely going to force a lot more turnovers because of this rule," she said.

Western Kentucky coach Michelle Clark-Heard also is enthusiastic about the change. Last season she engineered the biggest turnaround in Sun Belt Conference history, from a 9-21 finish the previous year to 21-10 in her debut season. The Lady Toppers were third in the league in turnovers forced (19.2 a game).

"I want us to press and be able to get up and down the court," Clark-Heard ssaid. "It will force teams to make sure they get better guard play. ... The ballhandling skills will have to continue to get better."

For the most successful active coach in the sport, this change is overdue.

"What took so long?" coach Geno Auriemma of defending NCAA champion Connecticut said. "For us to be the only organization in the world that plays without a 10-second line, that's kind of crazy when you think back. If it was such a bad idea, why was everybody else doing it? So I think it's a big step forward, and I think it'll help the game."

When the women's game was in its infancy in the 1980s, skilled ballhandlers were not as prevalent as they are now. Eastern Kentucky coach Chrissy Roberts, who starred at EKU in the 1990s after transferring from Kentucky, said there has been a tremendous improvement in the overall skill and athleticism of players.

Though the lack of a 10-second rule might have been necessary decades ago, Roberts said, the game has evolved.

"I'm glad they implemented it," she said. "We'll see what happens once that ball is tossed."

Michael Grant also writes for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal, a Gannett property.